Uriah "Bloody Jake" Evans played for four major league teams during a seven-year big-league career. He was primarily a right fielder.

Evans was born in Baltimore, MD in 1856, the same year that Dave Foutz was born in Maryland. The book Athletic Sports in America, England and Australia (published 1889) states that there was a team in Baltimore called the Creightons (existing from 1873-77) and Evans played for it along with a number of other future major leaguers.

At age 20, Evans played for the 1877 Rhode Island minor league team, as a teammate of the 41-year-old Dickey Pearce, one of baseball's pioneers. At age 21, Evans was with the 1878 New Bedford team, teaming up with the 20-year-old Roger Connor, the 21-year-old Harry Stovey and the 21-year-old Piano Legs Gore.

In 1879 he came to the majors for the first of three seasons with the Troy Trojans. The 1879 Trojans were a weak-hitting team, with their slugging star the 21-year-old Dan Brouthers. Evans, hitting 5 triples, tied for the team lead in triples and had a slugging percentage higher than the team's average.

The following year was Evans' first year on a major league team which finished over .500. He played for the 1883 Cleveland Blues, which went 55-42. Jake stayed with the team in 1884 as it played well under .500, but Jake had one of his best years with the bat, out-hitting the team average by comfortable margins in BA, OBP and SLG.